Happy little club members enjoy playing ukuleles

Richard Slavett is assisted by Greg Lane during a gathering of the Happy Little Ukulele Club at TOI Tapas Bar & Lounge in Thousand Oaks. The group meets twice monthly to play music and sing.

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Don Desmond (from left), Hal Kato and Eileen Hannemann play during a meeting of the Happy Little Ukulele Club at TOI Tapas Bar & Lounge in Thousand Oaks.

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Laura Smith (left) and Donna Graeser share a fun moment as a song ends during a meeting of the Happy Little Ukulele Club at TOI Tapas Bar & Lounge in Thousand Oaks.

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Valerie Kotas rests between songs during a meeting of the Happy Little Ukulele Club at TOI Tapas Bar & Lounge in Thousand Oaks.

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The Happy Little Ukulele Club wasn't so little, but the 25 people were definitely happy as they were strumming away and singing in the backroom of the TOI Tapas Bar & Lounge in Thousand Oaks.

Everyone was all smiles as they went around the table, each member choosing a tune such as "You are my Sunshine," "Bye Bye Love," "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, (Has Anybody Seen my Gal)?," "Tiny Bubbles" and "House of the Rising Sun," which they then played and sang as a group.

After about an hour, they went out into the restaurant and had dinner together, then went back in and played some more, much of which Simi Valley's Bob Hansen said is different from most ukulele groups.

Hansen, who has been playing the instrument for 10 years and leads his own group in Oxnard, as well as the group at the Goebel Senior Adult Center in Thousand Oaks, said his other groups perform solos first.

"This is a very social group," Hansen said.

Barbara Warren and Nancy Tamarin started the club two years ago.

Warren, who worked for Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays at the time, was going to Hawaii several times a year, and had begun playing the instrument there. She and a friend went to Monterey where they ended up at the first meeting of the Monterey Ukulele Club and Warren got the idea to start one in Thousand Oaks with Tamarin.

Tamarin started playing the ukulele in 2005.

"I began playing because of my age," Tamarin said. "I thought maybe it would be good to try to keep my brain functioning in some way. They said music is good for that. I had tried another instrument that was too difficult and a friend suggested the ukulele. I said, 'I don't really care much for Hawaiian music,' and she said, 'Oh no, it's not all Hawaiian. Listen to this,' and she got out her ukulele and started playing incredible jazz and some current Beatles. It sounded really good when she played it. I thought, 'OK, I'll give it a try.'"

Tamarin has attended a ukulele festival. "All the people were so happy. I never saw people like that. Who knew?" she said.

When they announced the formation of the club in the paper, 15 people showed up. Twenty-five showed up to the second meeting and they now have a list of about 70 players who alternately attend the twice monthly meetings. They've already outgrown two other sites.

This was Thousand Oaks' Julie Adickes' second meeting.

"It's so fun," Adickes said. "It's a totally accessible instrument. If you have any musical background at all, you can play it right away. I played piano 50 years ago. I was signing up for the tai chi class at the senior center and saw this. I got on Craig's List and in two days I had a ukulele and in three days I was playing. It's very social, too. It's better to play in a group. I'm having a blast."

Gregory Lane from Newbury Park started playing when he went on a Hawaiian cruise.

"This is a real fun group where you can sing songs that some people may not know and you can learn how to get your timing down," Lane said. "It's a fun, learning group to be in."

Simi Valley's Kai Gillespie didn't stop smiling for a minute.

"The uke is a happy instrument," Gillespie said. "You can't take yourself too seriously. This is just fun."

Tamarin said there is only one rule: no political discussions, because they want to be happy.